Witchdoctors / African Traditional He...

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Author Message   Anonymous Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 3:35 pm:        The following is gruesome document. Do not read it if you are sensitive to these issues relating to death, mutilation, child abuse and cultic behaviour. This document is a FACTNet alert and a call to arms. Tuesday, 2 April, 2002, 10:00 GMT 11:00 UK 'I was forced to kill my baby' Last September a boy's torso was found in the Thames. Police now believe it could have been a "muti" killing, a human sacrifice practiced in southern Africa. Here, as seen in a BBC Two documentary, a mother reflects how she was forced to help kill her own child. Helen Madide, of the Thohoyandou area in South Africa, was 18-years-old when she became a social pariah. She was the mother of a toddler named Fulufhuwani and was separated from his father, Naledzani Mabuda, a traditional healer known as a sangoma... While most of the 70,000 sangomas in South Africa provide herbal remedies for minor ailments, some crave more potent ingredients to practice muti, the Zulu word for medicine. "He began to tell me stories. His ancestors said that he must kill me and the child so that he can be rich," Helen told Nobody's Child, a BBC documentary on the investigation into the London boy's death. "He showed me the path and forced me to go along that path. He was pushing me and demanding me to go whether I like it or not. He said he was going to kill the baby first while I see the baby, then secondly he will kill me." Although Helen tried to escape, Mabuda caught her and forced her to hold Fulufhuwani's legs while he cut the child's throat. "When the child was dead, he started to cut all those pieces, the hands, the legs and even the sex organs," Helen says. Limbs from children, primarily the sexual organs, are said to be the most potent. These are sometimes taken from live victims because their screams are thought to enhance the power of the medicines... Mabuda then locked Helen up with the child's body. But his relatives, fearing for his wife and child, called the police... Conservative estimates are that at least 300 people have been murdered for their body parts in the past decade in South Africa. And Dr Anthony Minnar, of the Institute for Human Rights and Criminal Justice in South Africa, fears the toll could be much higher. "We have children going missing every week from our townships," he says. "The assumption is that those missing children are being put into prostitution and also that they are being used for muti murder."... But the police have found it difficult to investigate because in such cases, no-one is prepared to come forward. Similarly in London, little progress has been made on identifying the torso of the boy which was found in the Thames last September - or his killers. Whether or not he was indeed the UK's first recorded victim of a muti killing, the Metropolitan Police are convinced it was ritualistic. Among the South African experts advising them is Colonel Jonker, who has retired from that country's Occult Crime Unit. He says: "If there's a guy operating in London, he's going to need body parts again." .....end of Fair Use educational extract . To Read the full article, go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1899000/1899609.stm To voice your opinion: South African : The Presidency Ministry : Ms Nthabiseng Rantau : nthabiseng@po.gov.za South African : Tourism Ministry : Head of Ministerial Services : Mr Onkgopotse JJ Tabane : tabane@iafrica.com South African : Social Development Ministry : Media Liaison Officer : Ms Mbulelo Musi : mbulelo@welspta.pwv.gov.za South African : Justice & Constitutional Development Ministry : Media Liaison Officer : Mr Paul Setsetse : psetsetse@justice.gov.za South African : Safety and Security Ministry : Media Liaison Officer : Mr Andre Martin : martina@saps.org.za Major South African Newspapers: suntimes@sundaytimes.co.za (Sunday Times) letters@iol.co.za (Independent Online) letters@mg.co.za (Mail + Guardian)   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 10:53 pm:        Slain boy 'was gift to Nigerian sea goddess' April 17 2002 at 09:27PM By Sheena Adams A little boy whose torso was found in London's Thames River may have been sacrificed to a Nigerian sea goddess in a ghastly ritual. Hardened Scotland Yard detectives investigating the case sat stunned on Wednesday as they listened to a South African expert on ritual killings spell out the grisly details. A sangoma, Credo Mutwa, told them at the meeting in Johannesburg that the body was probably that of a Nigerian boy who muti killers had tracked for weeks before kidnapping him, taking him to Britain and murdering him. They then severed his head, arms and legs. Mutwa painted a horrifying picture for the detectives of what is believed to be a West African ritual, involving drinking the boy's blood from his skull. The detectives are here because South Africa is the only country in the world with a dedicated occult murder squad. The torso of the five-year-old Afro-Caribbean boy was found in the Thames in September. Police named him "Adam" because they said he deserved an identity. Despite a R750 000 reward, no one has come forward with information. Using traces of pollen found in Adam's stomach, the police have found that he had not been in London for long before his death. Mutwa said on Wednesday that the way Adam was dismembered pointed to a ritual called obeh, and signified that "something very big" was being planned by the murderers. "They sacrificed an innocent child who had not yet reached puberty. They would have drank his blood and used it to wash themselves. The finger joints would have been used as charms and his bones would have been ground into a paste to give them strength." Mutwa said Adam would have been chosen based on his personality and would have been followed for weeks before being abducted. He also said the crime was not committed by a "poor man". "These monsters must be hanged," Mutwa added.*** Baker said the fact that the killers had not cut off Adam's genitalia signalled that the ritual was not Southern African. "Mutwa said it was not satanic either. The obeh belief worships a sea or water goddess," he said. Mutwa said he was horrified at the photographs Baker and O'Reilly had shown him. After visiting Mutwa, the detectives went to the muti market in Faraday Street in the Johannesburg CBD, where they were shocked at the animal remains on sale. *** http://www.itechnology.co.za/index.php?click_id=24&art_id=ct20020417212733793S353300&set_id=1   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 10:55 pm:        Mandela in plea for help over Thames torso murder By Basildon Peta in Johannesburg and Jason Bennetto 20 April 2002 Nelson Mandela urged his fellow Africans yesterday to help British detectives investigating the murder of a boy whose mutilated body was found in the Thames. The former South African president made his appeal after a meeting in Johannesburg with two Scotland Yard investigators who suspect the boy was kidnapped in Africa and smuggled to Britain for a ritualistic killing. Mr Mandela said: "If anywhere, even in the remotest village of our continent, there is a family missing a son of that age who might have disappeared around that time, please contact the police in London directly, or through their local police."--- The boy, who is believed to have been aged five or six, died after his throat was cut. His head and limbs were then cut off and a pair of girl's orange shorts were placed on the torso. The body was discovered near Tower Bridge in east London on 21 September last year. The rest of his body has not been found and he has not been identified. Investigations indicate that he might have arrived in Britain only days before his death.---- Acting on Mr Mutwa's information, the two detectives said they were likely to travel to west Africa to pursue their investigation. Mr Mandela urged people, especially in Africa, to come forward with any information that could help police. "Early indications ... are that the boy comes from somewhere in Africa," he said. "Establishing the true identity of the boy is crucial for a successful conclusion of the investigation. "The post-mortem reveals that he died in a very violent manner. His neck had been cut in a very unusual way and he had a lot of loss of blood. What is even more gruesome is that the arms, legs and head had, according to the post-mortem result, been removed in a very skilful manner.--- http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=286959   Anonymous Posted on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 3:30 pm:        Man arrested after human head on sale 04 April 2002 07:54 A man was arrested on Wednesday at an abattoir in Krugersdorp on Wednesday, after a man's head was cut off with a knife and offered for sale for R10 000 for muti purposes, West Rand police said. Police representative Captain Paula Nothnagel said that on Monday morning, the headless body of a 52-year-old man was discovered by his friend at his home near the Millsite Railway Station in Krugersdorp.**** "A trap was set whereby a 23-year-old suspect was arrested after attempting to sell the victim's head for R10 000 for muti purposes." The 23-year-old suspect will appear in the Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court on Friday, charged with murder. - Sapa http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.jsp?a=11&o=3363   Anonymous Posted on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 3:33 pm:        SA police bag 'head' man... BBC Thu May 16 09:56:00 MDT 2002 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1991000/1991406.stm South African Man Caught Selling a Human Head... ABCNEWS.com Thu May 16 09:09:00 MDT 2002 http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/safrica020516.html   Anonymous Posted on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 10:11 am:        'Voodoo' deaths probed By Bruce Wilson in London 29may02 IT started last year when a young man was walking to work across London's Tower Bridge. Looking down into the swift-flowing Thames, he saw what he thought was a beer keg in an orange oilskin. What he saw on a closer look started an investigation that gets more bizarre as more evidence is uncovered. It was the torso of a male black child wearing orange swimming trunks. His head, arms and legs had been clinically removed.*** Commander Andy Baker, who leads the investigation, was yesterday in The Hague, Holland, for a conference of police from across Europe working on similar cases, after finding Adam's death was one of a chain of ritual child murders linked to African religious practices*** Police say they are looking at similar cases in Germany, Sweden, France, Belgium, Greece, Italy and the US. Known deaths are somewhere between 10 and 20. The first known case was in 1987, Commander Baker said. Police fear children are being sacrificed with the full knowledge of their parents and their disappearances not reported. An autopsy found Adam, aged five or six, had been well cared for.*** from http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4409828%255E401,00.html   Anonymous Posted on Monday, July 08, 2002 - 9:46 pm:        Bogus nurse sentenced to 12 years Posted Wed, 03 Jul 2002 The bogus nurse who kidnapped baby Priscilla Mlambo in Soweto in August last year was sentenced in the Protea Magistrates Court to twelve years' imprisonment, SABC radio news reported on Wednesday. Magistrate Brian Nemavhidi said Precious Tseko had shown no remorse for her actions. Tseko kidnapped the baby at a clinic in Soweto and gave her to a sangoma in Brixton, Johannesburg. The sangoma was later acquitted on a charge of kidnapping. Following the sangoma's arrest last year, a calabash containing a concoction of blood, water and medicine was found in her house. DNA tests revealed no traces of human blood in the concoction, but the child has still not been found. Sapa http://iafrica.com/news/sa/992041.htm   Anonymous Posted on Monday, July 15, 2002 - 10:53 pm:        Horrific murders in name of ritual medicine Sun 14 Jul 2002 JANE FLANAGAN IN JOHANNESBURG YOU ONLY have to pick through the piles of monkey skulls, baboon hands and scaly lizard tails at Johannesburg’s ‘muti’ market to realise the importance of witchcraft throughout Africa. South Africa is one of the few countries in the world with a police unit dedicated solely to investigating occult crimes. ...While the vast majority of sangomas - traditional healers - refuse to get involved with such a trade, those with enough money can buy remedies made from human body parts, including a cure for strokes made from human hands burned to ash and mixed into a paste. Blood is said to boost vitality and brains are used to impart political power and business success. Genitals, breasts and placentas are said to ward off infertility and bring good luck, with the genitalia of young boys and virgin girls being especially highly prized as ‘uncontaminated’ by sexual activity, and therefore more potent. According to conservative estimates, at least 300 people have been murdered for their body parts in the past decade in South Africa alone, but with so few victims’ bodies ever recovered, the full extent of the practice will never be known. Two years ago the South African government set up a commission of inquiry into witchcraft, violence and ritual murders after a spate of deaths in Soweto, involving the kidnap and murder of young boys aged between one and six. According to post mortem examination results, the boys were left to bleed to death after having their genitals and thumbs cut off and their eyes gouged out. The commission’s report revealed a grisly catalogue of facts almost too appalling to believe. In the course of its investigation, the inquiry discovered the common use of human skulls buried in the foundations of new buildings to ensure that the business there thrived; how body parts were buried on farms to secure good harvests, and severed hands built into shop entrances to draw customers. A probe into the industry in body parts revealed a thriving trade in which a testicle could raise £80, a kidney £200, a heart £400. With brains and genitals selling for up to £4,000, the organs of white men were worth more since whites were more successful in business. The report concluded that body parts taken from live victims were considered to be more potent because of "the screams of the victims". During their visit to South Africa, the Scotland Yard detectives spoke to Credo Mutwa, one of the country’s leading sangomas, who identified Adam’s murder as having a west African connection and suggested the killers were followers of ‘obeh’ - a form of witchcraft involving the human sacrifice of a pre-pubescent child. Dressed in floor-length robes and his head draped in cloth, Mutwa offered the detectives a disturbing interpretation of the boy’s murder. He said the killers would have drunk the boy’s blood shortly after his death, as a tonic to impart strength and vitality using a ‘skullcap’ sliced from the severed head. "His finger joints would have been used as charms or ground into a paste as part of a ritual in order to give these criminals strength," Mutwa added. "I think this is a human sacrifice to some sort of water deity carried out by a gang of people strengthening themselves to do some very ugly crimes. They have made this sacrifice because they are filled with fear of what they have done or what they are going to do." The boy’s neck had been severed from his spine to remove the first vertebra, which is in mythology said to be the bone with which the giant Atlas held up the world. In muti - the Zulu word for medicine - Colonel Rebus Jonkers, who retired recently from investigating South African witchcraft and black-magic crimes, said the Atlas bone "is believed to be the centre of the body, where all nerve and blood vessels meet". ...The word muti, which derives from ‘umu thi’, meaning tree, has become a byword for any traditional medicine, good or bad, practised by sangomas. According to research, over 80% of the South African population consults a sangoma more than three times a year - after or instead of going to a traditional medical doctor. The sangoma industry is thought to be worth about £200m a year. ...It was reported that the South African national football team used lion fat and hippopotamus grease to enhance players’ performance during the World Cup. One South African newspaper has even used muti to attempt to counter low staff morale and flagging circulation. ...Death threats have also reportedly been made to a health inspector in north London who uncovered what he believes is a muti network bringing children’s amputated limbs into Heathrow airport from Africa. ... more at http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/index.cfm?id=758272002   Anonymous Posted on Wednesday, July 17, 2002 - 1:40 pm:        Zimbabwe FA bans 'muti' Tuesday, 16 July, 2002, 16:32 GMT 17:32 UK The fear of 'juju' has been pervasive in Zimbabwe By Steve Vickers in Harare Zimbabwe's football league is clamping down on superstitious beliefs. ***Teams in the Premier Soccer League have been known to avoid changing rooms and designated stadium entrances, for fear of being put under a 'losing spell' as they walk past. ***"We've been hammering teams with fines all season, and we hope that this competition will discourage them further," said PSL executive member Chris Sambo. "We have to run the league professionally and instil discipline in our clubs. "It's time to eradicate this thinking in the minds of administrators and players. We must move on from the medieval days," said Sambo. ***It is common to see teams holding their half-time talk in a corner of the pitch rather than using the visiting team's dressing room, for fear of juju. The PSL said that teams that refuse to adhere to the new regulations would be heavily sanctioned. from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/football/africa/newsid_2132000/2132131.stm   Anonymous Posted on Wednesday, August 21, 2002 - 4:37 pm:        Sangoma 'helped hire hitman' SHARIKA REGCHAND A sangoma (traditional healer) and another woman are standing trial at the Pietermaritzburg High Court for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill the woman's taxi rank manager husband in Westgate three years ago. Accomplice witness Donely Gane Molefe implicated Busisiwe Irene Gumbi (40) and sangoma Nomusa Ntabinzima Mthembu (34) as the people who offered to pay him R5 000 to have Mncamiseni Michael Gumbi killed. Molefe said he knew Mthembu, from whom he had acquired herbs. During a visit in June 1998 she took him outside and told him she had a problem. "Her friend needed assistance. She wanted her husband to be killed," he said. Molefe said Gumbi then came outside and told him that when she fell in love with her husband he was a taxi driver. When they married, he bought her a taxi. Now, however, he was making arrangements to marry someone else and had paid lobola for the other woman. Molefe said he told them he would not commit the murder himself but would get someone else to do it. He approached Bheki Emmanuel Gasela to do the job. Gasela pleaded guilty to the murder in April this year and was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. Molefe said he took Gasela to meet Gumbi and Mthembu. Gasela said R5 000 was too little and demanded R10 000, which they agreed to pay. The murder did not take place immediately afterwards, Molefe said. The next year, Molefe and Gasela were talking about having no money and Gasela told him that Gumbi said it was taking too long to kill her husband. Molefe said Gumbi told him her husband left home at 4 am and returned at 7 pm. The first time they went to kill Mncamiseni Gumbi, his wife told them to come back the next day as there were many people at the house. They returned the next morning, June 1, 1999, at 3.30 am to Westgate where the Gumbis lived and Gasela shot Mncamiseni Gumbi. Molefe said that before he received any payment, he was arrested in connection with another crime. Gasela told him that Gumbi had paid him R5 000 for the murder and gave Molefe R1 000, which he used towards his bail. +++Thobile Shelembe (45), who has an honours degree in Social Science and a nursing degree, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of her husband, Samuel, saying she paid a traditional healer R15 000 to arrange his murder. He was killed during a hijacking in January 2000. extracted http://www.witness.co.za/showcontent.asp?id=9051&action=full&catid=6   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, September 01, 2002 - 2:06 pm:        Muti murder? Another headless body found August 28 2002 at 11:25AM By Graeme Hosken Two Durban primary schoolboys made a gruesome discovery when they stumbled across the headless, blood-soaked body of an Umbumbulu man, but despite an intensive search police were unable to find the man's severed head. The grisly find was the second of its kind in less than a week in the city. The boys, whose parents refused to allow them to be identified, found the decapitated body of Krishna Govender while walking to school through an open piece of land in the Malukazi area on the South Coast. The murdered man is believed to have been dragged into dense bushes while waiting in Postum Road, about 250m from his home, for a minibus-taxi to take him to work in Jacobs. Govender is believed to have been abducted by people who may have known him, and forced into a field where he is thought to have been bound and gagged with masking tape before his neck and head were carefully severed from his body. The body was found naked in a 2cm-deep pool of blood Govender's body was found naked in a 2cm-deep pool of blood with his arms stretched out. On Tuesday night a 15-man task team, made up of detectives from the Isipingo Detective Branch and Durban Murder and Robbery Unit, were piecing together the horrific murder, which has left residents stunned. Police spokesperson Superintendent Danelia Veldhuizen said the task team was investigating several motives for the murder. She said they were looking into the possibility that Govender may have been killed for muti purposes. Sergeant Ryan Charlton from the Durban Search and Rescue Unit and his dog combed the area, but didn't find Govender's head. Investigating officer Inspector Eden Sathseaven said they were hoping residents from the area would come forward with information on the killing. ...In an unrelated incident last Monday, a 35-year-old Cato Crest man hacked off his girlfriend's head with an axe after exploding in a fit of rage. It is believed that the woman, Sizakele Mzobe, 25, had spurned his advances. Her head is still missing. http://www.itechnology.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=ct20020828112533994D213534&set_id=1   Anonymous Posted on Wednesday, September 18, 2002 - 11:51 pm:        Man to die for ritual murder 11/09/2002 18:13 - (SA) Freetown - A Sierra Leonean court sentenced a 70-year-old man to death on Wednesday for the ritual murder of a seven-year-old boy whose heart and other organs were removed. Ritual killings or human sacrifices to local deities are customary in parts of West Africa, where some people commission killings to obtain body parts for magic spells to gain political power and influence. "Ritual murder in Sierra Leone is becoming rampant," Judge Olu Ademusu told the court before sentencing Alhaji Bockarie Kallon to death. ... http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/West_Africa/0,1113,2-11-998_1255902,00.html   Anonymous Posted on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 12:14 am:        Njeru Witchdoctor Held for Attempting To Kill 12-Year-Old Child New Vision (Kampala) September 14, 2002 Kampala POLICE in Njeru, Mukono district, are holding a witchdoctor who allegedly attempted to sacrifice a 12-year old girl taken to him by a client for a ritual. Jonathan Angura reports that Sam Matovu, 25, of Nsenge village where he is also the LC1 chairman, reportedly attempted to sacrifice Joy Nangobi, a primary four pupil of Nakibizzi primary school in Njeru. The officer-in- charge of Njeru police station, Willy Olweny, said the arrest took place on Thursday. Nangobi was reportedly kidnapped by unknown people as she returned from school. They allegedly took her to Matovu to use her to perform a ritual. http://allafrica.com/stories/200209161221.html   Anonymous Posted on Saturday, September 21, 2002 - 2:53 pm:        Police lay wreath for Thames torso victim Sunday, September 22, 2002. Posted: 00:27:10 (AEDT) British police laid a wreath in London's River Thames on Saturday in memory of a young boy whose headless and limbless torso was pulled from its murky waters exactly one year ago. +++They believe Adam was the victim of a West African ritual killing and have offered a 50,000 pound ($75,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of his killers. "It's one of the most gruesome murders that London's ever experienced," said Detective Inspector Will O'Reilly, who is leading the inquiry. "He was fed a potion or concoction some 24 or 48 hours before his death and was almost prepared for what then happened. He would have been aware of what was going to happen to him," Mr O'Reilly told Reuters after the ceremony. "This is only the second unsolved child murder in London in 12 years, and there's a great determination to bring the killers to justice." +++ http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s682467.htm   Anonymous Posted on Tuesday, November 05, 2002 - 12:38 pm:        Human flesh 'on sale in London' Police probe link between African magic and butchered remains of 5-year-old boy Antony Barnett, Paul Harris and Tony Thompson Sunday November 3, 2002 The Observer Detectives hunting the killers behind the 'Torso in the Thames' child murder are investigating the illegal bushmeat trade after allegations that human flesh is being offered for sale in London. Police believe that the murdered five-year-old, whom they have called Adam, was the victim of a ritualistic killing linked to a West African form of voodoo-like religion. Officers suspect that gangs illegally importing exotic meat, such as chimpanzee and bush rat from West Africa, are involved in trading in substances used in African witchcraft that may include human body parts. Detectives from Operation Swalcliffe, which is investigating Adam's death, joined a raid on a north London shop last month by environmental health officers after a tip-off that human body parts were being sold. The officers seized two tonnes of unfit meat, including a crocodile head, used in ritualistic dishes to increase sexual stamina in men. They also found rat faeces, which had been removed from rats' intestines and prepared as a delicacy for possible use in a ritual. The trade in importing bushmeat to Britain has boomed in recent years, but this was the first time evidence has been found linking it to witchcraft ceremonies. While police found no obvious traces of human flesh, packages of unidentifiable meat and ribs wrapped in plastic bags and stored in a backroom have been sent for DNA testing. Clive Lawrence, Heathrow airport's meat transport director, who was on the raid, is convinced that human flesh is finding its way into the UK as part of the bushmeat. He believes that the trade is also linked to criminal gangs involved in people trafficking and drug smuggling. 'The intelligence we are receiving suggests human flesh is coming into this country," he said. 'We are dealing with some very nasty people.' Experts believe African witchcraft rituals are on the increase in Britain. Professor Hendrick Scholtz, a South African expert in witchcraft and an adviser on Operation Swalcliffe, said: 'As these communities grow, elements of African culture will be inevitably transported to Britain.' In the past year police have discovered seven incidences of West Africans conducting religious rituals on the banks of the Thames. They usually involve lighting candles and writing on white sheets that are then thrown them into the water. Early in their investigations, police thought seven half-burnt candles wrapped in a sheet near Battersea Power Station could hold the key to the murder. The name 'Adekoyejo Fola Adoye' was written on the sheet and carved in the candles. However, detectives found that Adoye lived in New York and his London-based parents had performed a ceremony to celebrate the fact he was not killed in the 11 September terrorist attacks. Nevertheless, the revelation is thought to have surprised police who had been unaware such rituals had been taking place in public in the capital. The use of human flesh is a taboo subject in many African communities, which stress that traditional culture abhors such acts. Scholtz said it is used when a normal animal sacrifice is considered insufficient. Human flesh is also typically used when a group of people is trying to achieve a common goal. The possible uses of such body parts is varied: skin from a stomach can be used to cause pain to enemies, while fingernails and toenails are used in poisons. Eyebrows, hair and noses are often used in curses. Particularly strong magic is believed to reside in a person's genitalia. Breasts and genitalia from both sexes are used in love potions. Police believe that Adam was brought to Britain as a slave and sacrificed in a ritual intended to bring good luck to his killers. 'There is an ongoing search for Adam's head and limbs and there is evidence to suggest a link between those who are involved and the trade in illegal animal parts and meat products,' said a spokesman for Operation Swalcliffe. Privately, detectives believe Adam's arms, legs and skull have been kept as magical trophies. Two officers are in Nigeria trying to find his parents after DNA testing showed he was born there. They believe his death may be linked to an extreme element from the Yoruba people, a tribe with voodoo-like rituals. found at... http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,824972,00.html   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 12:57 pm:        WITCH DOCTORS ROB OUR SOLDIERS' GRAVES 10:30 - 12 November 2002 Former Gloucestershire soldiers have had their graves desecrated by witch doctors plundering them for bones and treasure in South Africa. The mass grave of soldiers from the Gloucestershire Regiment who fought in the Boer War, in Ladysmith, northern KwaZulu-Natal, has been turned over twice by grave-robbers.The mass grave of soldiers from the Gloucestershire Regiment who fought in the Boer War, in Ladysmith, northern KwaZulu-Natal, has been turned over twice by grave-robbers. The memorial was first vandalised by the witch doctors in 1999, as was the mass grave in front of it, and again in April of this year. ---Historian and Boer War expert Brian Kaighin, who lives in the South African city of Durban, helped to rebuild the four-metre granite memorial after it was vandalised for the first time. ---Mr Kaighin said: "The vandalism is suspected to have been carried out by local natives looking for bones from which the Sangoma, or medicine woman would make 'muti', which is the Zulu word for medicine. ---Heritage cultural officer Graeme Smyth said: "The memorial is unfortunately in a very isolated area, on top of a hill, which is impossible to police. "But the land owner has recently installed a electric fence so that should deter the vandals. ---Did your ancesters fight and die in the Boer War as members of the heroic Gloucestershire Regiment? Contact The Citizen on 01452 420 621 or by e-mail: news@gloscitizen.co.uk. http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=111001&command=displayContent&sourceNode=111000&contentPK=3025071   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, December 22, 2002 - 10:46 am:        Cops see through sangoma's 'invisibility' act December 21 2002 at 08:34PM By Riot Hlatshwayo A Limpopo sangoma might be charged for allegedly smearing two murder suspects with goat's blood and performing a magic ritual to "make them invisible" to police. The youths were on the run at the time after allegedly stabbing Japhta Ndlovu, 30, to death during an argument at a shebeen. Inspector Ntobeng Phala, a police spokesperson, confirmed that the unnamed sangoma's action could see him facing charges, including one of obstructing justice. +++ If a prosecution is successful, the case could serve as the cornerstone of widespread criminal charges against traditional healers or spiritualists who "bewitch" people. +++ Advocate Jan Henning, the senior public prosecutions director, said this week that the case against the Limpopo sangoma appeared to be fairly simple. "He can definitely be charged with aiding and abetting a crime. It is going to be very interesting, however, to see how the courts handle evidence on whether the ritual to make the boys invisible was effective. It could turn out to be a very difficult case." The boys, aged 14 and 16, will go on trial for murder early next year. Their parents, who may not be named to avoid identifying the minors, allegedly contacted the sangoma after the boys stabbed Ndlovu at a Marowe shebeen, about 40km from Polokwane, last Saturday night after an argument. The pair fled the scene but were tracked to a local sangoma's practice the next day. The teenagers' parents allegedly took them to the sangoma, who smeared them with a goat's blood, Phala said. The two teenagers appeared in the Seshego magistrate's court on Tuesday, but were not asked to plead to charges of murder. They were remanded into their parents' custody until the case resumes on February 17. - African Eye News Service http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=15&art_id=ct20021221203419446S525690&set_id=1   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, January 26, 2003 - 8:09 pm:        The muti that made the minister invisible January 22 2003 at 05:39AM By Anthony Mukwita Lusaka - Zambia's national museum has asked the police to donate the "invisibility muti" they confiscated from former finance minister Katele Kalumba, who faces theft charges. A spokesperson said they would be grateful if Kalumba's charms were handed to them so that tourists could see the herbs that made him disappear at will. Kalumba evaded authorities for months by consulting a medicine man who gave him "muti" to make him invisible. Kalumba evaded authorities for months by consulting a medicine man When police eventually caught up with him last week neighbours pointed out that he was hiding under a fern, pretending to be invisible. Kalumba's name has been on the lips of many Zambians. A common story is one about an empty stool at a bar, which is forever reserved for him. When someone tries to pull up the empty stool, the guy next to it says: "Hold it. The Honourable Katele Kalumba is already seated here." The reply is: "But I can't see him..." The retort is: "That's Katele for you." - Independent Foreign Service http://www.itechnology.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=vn20030122053957668C682049&set_id=1   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, February 02, 2003 - 8:34 pm:        UK Detectives Identify Ritual Murder Victim A vital breakthrough has been made in the investigation into the murder of a young Nigerian boy in UK whose mutilated body was found in the River Thames. Ground breaking forensic work has revealed that the boy, who has been named Adam by officers, came from a particular part of south-west Nigeria. Detectives will travel within the next few weeks to the rural area between Benin City and Ibadan, which is a 100 mile by 50 mile corridor. The boy, who was between four and seven years old, was discovered in the river near Tower Bridge in September 2001. When his body was found, it prompted a major police inquiry reaching as far as South Africa. Police believed the boy may have been subject to a West African-style "muti" ritual killing, commonly associated with South Africa. After samples taken from Adam's bones showed traces of a particular type of pre-Cambrian rock from West Africa a team from Scotland Yard travelled to Nigeria and took 100 samples from a 10,000 square kilometre area. They were taken from sources such as soil, rocks, elephants, bush meat, wild game and human post-mortem examinations. By looking for the pre-Cambrian rock similar to those found in Adam, Professor Ken Pye, a forensic geologist, was able to discount 95% of Nigeria and establish where the boy came from. --- Former South African president Nelson Mandela made an appeal for information which will be translated into Yoruba, the local language, and posters will go up in the area. --- Further forensic work is also being carried out on a concoction found in Adam's lower gut which he is thought to have swallowed before he was sacrificed. It is thought to contain quartz, bone, clay pellets and very small samples of rough gold. Scientists believe they may be able to source where the gold came from and are also trying to identify what species the bones were from. They already know from pollen samples found in Adam's stomach that he was alive when he got to London. see http://www.thisdayonline.com/news/20030201news11.html   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 8:37 am:        Woman mutilated in alleged muti killing ESHOWE Posted Mon, 10 Feb 2003 A Zululand woman and her nine-year-old grandson were shot dead in Nkandla, near Eshowe, on Sunday in what appeared to be a muti killing, police said on Monday. Captain Vusumuzi Mbata said he could not confirm that the murders were related to the muti trade, but body parts had been removed from the woman, which is often the case in muti killings. The woman's other grandson was injured in the attack. Melta Sikhakhane (60) and her two grandsons Siyabonga, nine, and Siphesihle Sikhakhane, five, were getting ready for bed about 7.30pm when two men burst into their hut and began shooting wildly at the three people inside, Mbata said. The woman was shot four times in her back and once in her head, while Siyabonga was shot in the back. Both died as a result of their wounds. Siphesihle was shot in a wrist, elbow and knee and was taken to Nkandla hospital for treatment. Neighbours found the woman's body mutilated. The skin on her head, her entire lower jaw and both her ears had been removed. http://iafrica.com/news/sa/78050.htm   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, March 02, 2003 - 12:20 pm:        Man sells explosives as muti 24/02/2003 20:32 Durban - A Durban herbalist and an employee were arrested on Monday for alleged possession of commercial explosives that they were reportedly selling to members of the public to cure "aches and pains". The explosive substance that the men were selling as an oral medication, was likely to cause "unstoppable diarrhoea" and possibly death, according to police spokesperson Superintendent Vishnu Naidoo. Naidoo said members of the police's Organised Crime Unit and metro police, acting on a tip-off, raided the herbalist's shop in central Durban and recovered 10 commercial blasting cartridges and 33 packets containing an explosive substance in the shop. +++ He said another worrying factor was that the explosives - enough to bring down a 20-storey building - were not stored properly. Through ageing, the substance could explode on its own from excessive heat or shock and judging by the quantity recovered, the consequences would have been disastrous if it had exploded. Police also recovered various body parts and hides of endangered animal species, which included animals such as the leopard, the African Rock Python, and crocodile jaws. +++ http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1324745,00.html   Elf Kloy Posted on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 8:12 pm:        < Abusive rubbish deleted by Administrator >   Anonymous Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 7:22 am:        MEXICO Angry villagers in southern Mexico stone to death alleged witch AP (14.04.2003)/ HRWF Int. (16.04.2003) - Website http://ww.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - An angry crowd stoned to death an Indian man accused of practicing witchcraft in a southern Mexico town with a long tradition of religious violence. The man, Domingo Shilon Shilon, was also hacked with machetes Sunday by the crowd in San Juan Chamula, a majority Catholic township on the outskirts of the colonial city of San Cristobal, 460 miles southeast of Mexico City. Shilon, 50, was caught by the crowd in a neighborhood known as Rancho Narvaez, state police said. After killing him, the crowd partially burned his body. Shilon, like most of his alleged attackers, was a Tzotzil Indian, a branch of the Maya. The Chiapas state Justice Department said an investigation was continuing into the killing, but it is often difficult to prosecute such cases, given that witnesses are frequently unwilling to testify. Since the 1960s, San Juan Chamula has seen numerous killings and confrontations as "traditional" Catholics - who mix pre-Hispanic Indian rights with Roman liturgy - battle to expel evangelical Protestants. Witchcraft is often blamed for outbreaks of illness or the deaths of children in the impoverished Indian community, where many practice faith healing and some residents - mainly men - engage in so-called "white" magic. In 1996, residents of another San Juan Chamula neighborhood beat and then hanged a man suspected of causing ailments and misfortune through witchcraft. The villagers killed the man after they went to a cave he frequented and found bottles dressed in the local Indian garb, objects he allegedly used in casting spells on people.   Anonymous Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 7:23 am:        INDIA Bihar: Suspected witch tortured The Hindu (15.04.2003)/ HRWF Int. (16.04.2004) - Website http://ww.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - A 40-year-old woman was beaten mercilessly and forced to consume human excreta after being declared a witch in Purani Chowk area of Samastipur district, police said today. A group of villagers held one Sita Devi responsible for the death of a local and after removing her clothes beat her up with lathis and later forced her to consume excreta on Sunday, police said. The attackers alleged the woman with practising witch-craft and held her responsible for the death of Ashok Kumar, who was ill for a long time and had died in a Delhi hospital on Saturday. The victim has lodged an FIR against six persons of the same locality with Rosera police station of the district in this connection, police said adding raids were being conducted to nab the accused.   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2003 - 8:19 am:        Possible serial muti killer on loose Posted Wed, 09 Apr 2003 MPUMALANGA Police in Delmas, Mpumalanga said on Tuesday they were investigating the possibility that a serial muti killer was on the loose in and around the town. This follows the discovery of a decomposed human head, believed to be that of an elderly man, in a shallow grave on the Delmas-Devon Couwenburg gravel road on Monday. The discovery is the second of its kind in less than a year. Last August the headless body of a woman was found about 15 kilometres away from scene of Monday's discovery. The head was never found. Superintendent Fanie Motubane said on Tuesday the head was neatly cut and was probably partly uncovered by foxes. He said the headless body discovered last year was also cut in a similar manner. Motubane confirmed police were investigating the possibility that a serial muti killer was operating in the area and warned people to be careful when walking through the veld alone. The body had not been found by Tuesday afternoon. Anyone with information was asked to contact police on 013-665-2631. http://iafrica.com/news/sa/227055.htm   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2003 - 8:20 am:        Muti murder claims 6-yr-old 15/04/2003 18:16 - (SA) Riot Hlatshwayo Bushbuckridge - Limpopo police have found the headless and mutilated body of a six-year-old boy after he disappeared from his bed on Monday night. Fezeka Maphanga's head, arms and genitals had been removed and his remains were dumped in bushes at Marite near Bushbuckridge where they were found at about 09:00 on Tuesday. "The boy had been sleeping with other four children in a two-roomed house but was missing when everybody woke up on Tuesday morning," said Mopani police spokesperson captain Moatshe Ngoepe. The boy's parents reported him missing to police and neighbours then helped search for the child, eventually stumbling across his remains. Police fear the killing is muti related as the arms, the head and the private parts have not been found. They have yet to make arrests. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0%2C,2-7-1442_1348168%2C00.html   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, May 25, 2003 - 3:21 pm:        'Muti man was alive during horror mutilation' May 22 2003 at 10:32AM Traditional healer Jim Kgokong Shego had his genitals, his belly button and anus cut out for muti while he was still alive. A rock was then tied around his waist and he was thrown into a mine shaft filled with water. This was the evidence in the Pretoria High Court trial on Wednesday of four fellow traditional healers. Traditional healers Jeremiah Africa Madonsela, 50, Elias Magabane, 55, April Mahlangu, 43, and Simon Leeu Ndala, 52, all pleaded not guilty to murdering Shego at Mountainview in KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga, on June 7, 2000. John Msiza, who helped pin down Shego's legs while Madonsela allegedly removed his body parts, testified against the four accused in return for indemnity on Wednesday. Msiza was an apprentice traditional healer and an assistant of Shego. Msiza said the four accused abducted him at gunpoint on the day of the murder. They apparently took him to the home of Shego where the latter was shot in the leg and taken to an open veld. "Madonsela took out a knife and he ordered us to pin Shego's legs wide open." Msiza said two of them held open his legs while two more pinned his shoulders to the ground. "Madonsela took the knife and cut out the man's testicles. He then cut around his navel and took it out. He also cut around his anus and took that tissue out," Msiza testified. He said Shego cried and asked them whether they were killing him. After the human flesh was placed in a plastic bag, Madonsela ordered them to tie a rock around the man's waist. Shego, who was still breathing, was thrown into a mine shaft filled with water. Asked by the state what the motive for the killing was, Msiza said it was because Shego's herbal practice did much better than that of his rivals. Shego could "cure Aids" and he saw about 40 patients a day. He also told the court that "witch doctors" used human flesh for their muti. The flesh had to be removed while the victim was still alive, or else it would not work, Msiza said. http://www.itechnology.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20030522103218223C777434&set_id=1   James Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 6:06 pm:        There are lots of African craft sites on the Internet that sell the usual tourist fare you get in various parts of Africa from hawkers. Articimo.com adds a touch of class and this is not shipped from a warehouse in New York, but comes to you from Ghana, West Africa. Take a look - even if you are not buying it is a pleasure to view the various items on display.   Anonymous Posted on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 10:45 am:        Medicine men, a curse or cure? By Anna Parkinson /// Many Africans go first to a traditional healer when they have a problem. The muti or traditional medicine market that has grown up under a flyover in downtown Johannesburg is an indication of how popular the old traditions have become. As in any other South African city, rows of market traders sit by piles of skins, bones and bundles of herbs. Women hollow out gourds, which are then decorated with beads, filled with powder and healing “spirit”, and used as medicine bottles. Here “luck medicine” is the most expensive item you can buy; it comes in the form of a piece of leopard skin which, if boiled in water and drunk, is supposed to be particularly effective before a visit to the casino. /// some traditional practices have come in for strong criticism. Unsterilised porcupine quills or rusty razor blades used on successive patients have been blamed for spreading HIV. Most healers now ask patients to bring their own surgical tools. Healers are also blamed for the persistence of vicious myths among the population, such as the claim that Aids can be cured by sleeping with a child under ten. And there are bad healers who make mistakes. Conventional doctors have encountered patients, especially children, whose intestines and liver have been damaged by taking the wrong dosages or the wrong medicines. Wild creatures are also threatened to some extent by the use of their skins, beaks and claws in a tradition which began when the continent’s indigenous animals were more plentiful. But the Government knows it needs the healers if it is to tackle the public health problem. Collectively, healers have tremendous influence over the wellbeing of the population because of their power to instil or dispel belief, as well as for the herbal treatments they offer. For almost ten years the Government has tried to create a national register of healers which would authenticate their training and skills (such a system exists in Zimbabwe). Ironically, this is where tradition has proved a thorn in the Government’s side. There are more than 30 healer associations in South Africa which refuse to recognise any authority. Many healers are functionally illiterate despite their knowledge of herbs, and will not subject their skills to the independent scrutiny of an alien bureaucracy. This recalcitrance has already caused the collapse of one scheme which aimed to cover traditional healers under medical insurance. So while the research on traditional African medicine continues, and sutherlandia is beginning to be cultivated for export, legislation to get to grips with the nation’s health problems has temporarily run aground. www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,589-693960,00.html   Anonymous Posted on Monday, June 09, 2003 - 9:58 am:        Witch doctor robbed graves for medicines Sun Jun 8, 8:26 AM ET JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African witch doctor's medicine recipes landed him in trouble with the law when police found him using human bones he had dug up from graves to treat mental illness. Muti, or traditional medicine, uses herbs, barks and animal parts as legal treatments for minor ailments like headaches and bad dreams, and as potions said to boost sexual performance. But human body parts are banned from the mixture, police spokesman Mohale Ramatseba said, adding that the 39-year-old man had been arrested on Friday in the northern Limpopo province for violating graves and possessing human bones. "He had dug them from graves. He said he was healing people who were mentally ill, so he dug up the bones of people who had died," Ramatseba told Reuters, adding that police were rounding up similar offenders in the area. http://tinyurl.com/duet   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, June 15, 2003 - 6:25 pm:        Limpopo 'muti man' arrested Sunday June 08, 2003 10:43 - (SA) A 39-year-old man was arrested for allegedly dealing in human body parts at Mphanama village near Sekhukhune, Limpopo police said. Captain Mohale Ramatseba said the man from Sekhukhune, about 120 kilometres from Polokwane, claimed to be a traditional healer. He was found in possession of human bones and told police he used them to cure illnesses. He was also found in possession of a human skull which he said was used to cure patients with mental illnesses. Ramatseba said the man was arrested following a tip-off from the community and would appear in the Nebo Magistrate's Court on Monday in connection with a charge of violation of a grave and possession of human body parts. See http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimes/newsst/newsst1055061816.asp   Anonymous Posted on Monday, June 23, 2003 - 8:41 am:        'Muti won't get you to Parliament,' king warns James Hall | Mbabane 20 June 2003 12:15 When King Mswati III dissolved Swaziland's Parliament this month in anticipation of October elections, he sternly warned prospective candidates not to murder innocent people in order to harvest their body parts to make a "muti" to bring good fortune. "During election times, we tend to lose our grandmothers, grandfathers and young children. They just disappear. But I want to warn you all that you should not resort to ritual murder," Mswati said. Addressing more than 15 000 people at Ludzidzini Royal Village, 20km east of Mbabane, the king emphasised: "Don't do that, because you might get caught and then you will not achieve your dream of going to Parliament." Why would the head of state risk ridicule for his country by dwelling on a grisly, superstitious practice as if it was normal in the course of Swazi electioneering? According to police records, the king has reason to. Before the last parliamentary poll in 1998, the number of corpses with missing body parts discovered in rural or peri-urban areas increased from the usual three or four a year to more than a dozen. No actual ritual is performed in "ritual murders". Usually marginal people in society, such as widows or orphans, are killed for pieces of flesh that are roasted, ground to powder, and combined with other ingredients for a potion its users believe will allow them to triumph over their rivals. "It's a form of sympathetic magic. Users believe that by committing a God-like act — taking the life of another human being — they are proving their strength, which they call upon dark powers to confirm by using a potion made from body parts," said Justice Mngomezulu, a local doctor. *** The late journalist Vusie Ginindza believed the escapades of Swaziland's first serial killer, David Simelane, may have had something to do with the trend of ritual murder. Ginindza was investigating the Simelane case. "Here was a man with no job and no car, who confessed to abducting 60 women, taking them to the remote Malkerns forests, killing and burying them," Ginindza said at the time. "How did he accomplish this alone and without transport? People wonder if others, higher-ups, are involved, and maybe even a body-parts racket." Simelane, who was arrested two years ago, has not been brought to trial, further fuelling speculation of a cover-up involving a body-parts-for-muti syndicate. Prosecutors say the delay is due to the lengthy process of identifying victims via their DNA. Meanwhile, Mswati wants the first Parliament under a new constitutional dispensation to be elected without homicide, and is urging candidates to stick to conventional means of campaigning. seen at http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=15998   Anonymous Posted on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 2:10 pm:        Tanzania fights human skinning Friday, 4 July, 2003, 16:49 GMT 17:49 UK Exhibits of skin are part of Tanzania's campaign to discourage the trade in human skin at an international business fair in the capital. Vistors to the the week-long fair in Dar es Salaam will see a rather gruesome exhibit of human body parts in an effort to raise awareness about the underground trade in human skin which has hit southern Tanzania over the past two years. The head of the forensic science division in the chief chemist's office, which is exhibiting the parts, Gloria Machube, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the human skin is used in witchcraft. According to police the skins are in huge demand outside Tanzania. People are skinned and the skin is used for their rituals /// They are transported to Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo before reaching their final destination in West Africa. /// In 2001 police broke a skin-smuggling ring and 13 people were charged with murder. A total of six young people are thought to have been killed and skinned in the Mbeya region of south-western Tanzania. Ezekiah Swila was 13-years-old when his body was found skinned at Kisinga village. Three more cases followed in Ileje and Mbozi, both districts in Mbeya, near the Zambian border. The victims were identified through their DNA. Ms Machube said that the human skins, skulls and limbs at the trade fair are samples from the police forensic department, and that they are used to let people know that the force now has the technology to scientifically "identify the victims' profiles". "This is also to educate people that they do not have to to use human skin to become rich," she said. The prices of the human skins range from $2,400 to $9,600, depending on the age of the victim, police say. from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3045738.stm   Anonymous Posted on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 2:47 pm:        Gruesome murder: Man held 03/07/2003 23:23 - (SA) Lieze du Preez Rustenburg - A Phokeng taxi driver has been arrested in connection with the death of two teenage girls, whose badly mutilated bodies were found outside the town earlier this week The brains of one of the girls had been removed and her ear cut off. The two, Mapula Lonkokile, 14, and Tshiamo Dominica Gaope, 10, were last seen on Friday when they were sent to town to buy food. When they didn't return, they were reported missing. Their bodies were found on the outskirts of the Lemenonge area in Phokeng on Tuesday afternoon. Their parents are neighbours. Inspector Phoeboe Moseki, police spokesperson in the Marico area, says the possibility is being investigated that the girls were raped and that their murders could be muti related. Tshiamo's half-naked body was found in a bush. Her hands had been tied behind her back with a shirt and a portion of her big toe had been cut off. Mapula's body was found about 45m further. Police say her skull had been cracked open and her brains removed. Her right ear had been cut off and she had been covered with a skirt. Gruesome murder: Man held 03/07/2003 23:23 - (SA) Lieze du Preez Rustenburg - A Phokeng taxi driver has been arrested in connection with the death of two teenage girls, whose badly mutilated bodies were found outside the town earlier this week The brains of one of the girls had been removed and her ear cut off. The two, Mapula Lonkokile, 14, and Tshiamo Dominica Gaope, 10, were last seen on Friday when they were sent to town to buy food. When they didn't return, they were reported missing. Their bodies were found on the outskirts of the Lemenonge area in Phokeng on Tuesday afternoon. Their parents are neighbours. Inspector Phoeboe Moseki, police spokesperson in the Marico area, says the possibility is being investigated that the girls were raped and that their murders could be muti related. Tshiamo's half-naked body was found in a bush. Her hands had been tied behind her back with a shirt and a portion of her big toe had been cut off. Mapula's body was found about 45m further. Police say her skull had been cracked open and her brains removed. Her right ear had been cut off and she had been covered with a skirt. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1382645,00.html   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 11:12 am:        Discovery of body parts: is it muti killings? July 23 2003 at 04:35AM By Nalisha Kalideen & Lee Rondganger The young girl's hair was braided with short extensions, her eyes were closed, her small head was facing upwards among the reeds. But there was nothing more to her - no neck, no torso, no body. She was found on Sunday, among dry reeds near the dusty yellow bank, in the bright blue water of the Spaarwater Dam in Duduza on the East Rand. Her small head was facing upwards among the reeds On Monday, police divers recovered the head believed to belong to a girl between the ages of 8 and 16 from the same dam. But the girl isn't the first victim of decapitation to have been found in the area. Just 2km away, in another, smaller dam, where a dress was found, police recovered the head, without the neck, of Joel Lephoto, 48, on May 31. He had last been seen by his family on May 25 before he left for work. His neckless torso was found in an industrial area near KwaThema a few days later. In November 1999 the head of a Rastafarian was found in the same dam as the one containing Lephoto's head. His body and neck were never found. ::: Although police don't have further clues about the girl, they don't think she spent her last hours at the Spaarwater Dam because there are no traces of blood, which would have been the case if she had been beheaded near the dam. Even the ruins of the angling shop on its shores, which serves as a hangout for drug addicts, is free of blood. Pieke said the head had probably been in the water for four days. There were no clues to the girl's identity, how long she had been dead or whether she had been killed before her head was cut off. He added there were no jagged cuts at the base of her head, which indicated the head had been sliced cleanly from the rest of her body. "There was a clean cut above the neck. The murderer had sufficient implements to be able to cut through. It does not look like a saw was used." ::: The head was discovered on Sunday by a passing herder, Frans Motaung, while his cattle were drinking water. He didn't report the matter because he could not leave his cattle. He later told his boss, who called the police. Other possible muti murders? * The brutal killings of four people in Delmas, Mpumalanga, in 1998 were attributed to muti murders. * On September 8 1998, two severed heads were found in the Wilge River near Botleng. One belonged to a 10-year-old and the other to a middle-aged person. It was estimated they had been in the water for two weeks. * A few days later, two badly decomposed headless bodies were found in a stream on Rietkol farm, about 20km from the first discovery. * Police then found a third head and a third body. Police said two of the severed heads matched two bodies, according to the Sunday Times archives. The other head and torso did not match. A police criminal psychologist said the necks had been removed from their bodies. It was impossible at the time to determine what other parts had been removed. The fact that the heads and bodies were found 20km from each other indicated an attempt by the perpetrator to prevent the victims being identified. from the website - http://www.itechnology.co.za/index.php?click_id=15&art_id=vn20030723043548591C516602&set_id=1   Anonymous Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 9:35 am:        Witch Doctor Charged with Having Human Skull Wed Jul 30,11:06 AM ET LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian witch doctor has been charged with possessing a human skull for rituals, police said Tuesday. Police recovered other fetish items like cowries and horns from the man's shrine in the city of Benin, about 180 miles northeast of the commercial hub of Lagos. The witch doctor, 80, was suspected of using human parts for rituals. "He said the skull was part of his trade, but it is an offence for anybody to be in possession of human parts," Edo state police spokesman Tunde Showole told Reuters. Ritual killing is common in some parts of Nigeria where many people believe they could become millionaires after sacrifices with vital human organs. ... http://tinyurl.com/imic   Anonymous Posted on Friday, August 08, 2003 - 10:56 am:        Court stunned as murderer sniggers over life sentence August 7, 2003 "Man, I can't believe you are laughing. What is so laughable about the sentence?" Perhaps the abattoir worker thought it was funny, but the court interpreter felt disgusted and castigated Sebenzile Raymond Tshazi (23) in isiZulu for laughing when the judge yesterday sentenced him to life for beheading a man and later trying to sell his head for muti. His actions also puzzled members of the public sitting in the gallery. Despite being reprimanded, Tshazi kept grinning long after the Johannesburg High Court had read the sentence for the murder of Oupa Reuben Ncetheswa (52) in May last year Tshazi, who worked at a Krugersdorp abattoir, stabbed Ncetheswa eight times in the chest before decapitating him. He put the homeless man's head, with its hat on, in a plastic bag and hid it in the veld. On hearing there was someone selling a man's head, police used a bogus traditional healer to set a trap for Tshazi. Passing sentence, Judge Naren Pandya described the killing as "barbaric" and committed out of "sheer greed". Tshazi was also sentenced to a year in jail for being in possession of a human body-part. - High Court Reporter http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=203655   Anonymous Posted on Sunday, August 10, 2003 - 9:15 am:        No cure for muti murders August 05 2003 at 02:30PM Business in need of a quick fix? Find an unwitting victim, cut off a hand, and bury it under your shop's front door. According to the warped logic of the most extreme of South Africa's traditional beliefs, that hand will "call" customers, and their money, to your shop's doors. These so-called "muti" murders - killings to obtain body parts for supposedly potent traditional cures - still occur with alarming regularity in post-apartheid South Africa, says Gerard Labuschagne, head of a police unit devoted to investigating the country's most bizarre crimes. The discovery of a young woman's severed head, floating in a dam near Johannesburg late last month, has fuelled press speculation that the victim was killed for her body parts. Although police have not confirmed that the killing was connected to muti, the incident has had traditional healers scrambling to denounce the practice. In London, the arrest of 21 people by police hunting the killers of a young boy whose headless and limbless torso was found in the River Thames has spread the profile of muti killings to a wider audience. But Labuschagne says such murders often go unreported, apart from a few high-profile cases. Although official statistics are not available, he estimates there are anything between 150 and 300 such killings each year. "In South Africa it happens fairly regularly; it is occurring at least each month," he said. "For many of the police it is nothing unusual, just treated as a normal murder... So there are a lot of muti-related murders that we are not informed about." The vast majority of traditional healers, who use herbs, bark and animal remains for their remedies, say they have no dealings with human body parts. However, the strength of a recipe is thought to depend on its composition, and the belief that human parts make the strongest ingredients sometimes tempts less scrupulous practitioners to include them in their concoctions. "It is definitely wrong to tar all traditional healers, who play an important role in the community, with the same brush," said Labuschagne, adding that the majority condemned muti murders wholeheartedly. Sitting behind his desk in an office plastered with press cuttings of serial murder cases, Labuschagne says he doesn't lose much sleep investigating these gruesome killings. But then he is not shocked by depravity - he has a doctorate in clinical psychology and has studied serial killers since 1994. His unit focuses on some of the country's most unusual crimes. Serial rapists are the main task this year, but mass-murderers, baby-rapists and extortionists all receive his attention. "But the most out-of-the-ordinary stuff that we investigate are the muti murders," he said. High-profile cases in recent years have included the discovery of three headless bodies, and three severed heads that did not match them, in lakes and rivers near Johannesburg. Last year, police arrested a man who was trying to sell a severed head for about R12 000 for use in traditional medicine. These murders have also attracted huge attention overseas. London detectives have been trying to unravel the mystery surrounding a torso found in the Thames and have turned to West Africa in their search, but their arrest of 21 people late last month grabbed headlines and focused attention on muti killings. Muti murders are hard to solve because of the number of people involved, Labuschagne says. He says it is usually quite easy to identify such crimes - body parts are removed in a functional manner while the victim is alive, without any trace of enjoyment by the killer, in contrast to serial or sadistic murders. A healer will describe to the murderer what parts are needed, and the manner in which they are to be collected: testicles for virility purposes, fat from the breasts or abdomen for luck, tongues to smooth the path to a woman's heart. "The poor victim usually just happened to fit the bill at that time," Labuschagne said. However, it is usually hard to pin down healers and clients. "Often the murderer does not want to inform on the healer for fear of being cursed," he said. Labuschagne says his unit has little hope of eradicating the practice in the near future. "For centuries it has been the practice, it is nothing new. "I don't think anyone can believe ideas that we will stop muti murders occurring, any more than one could say we are going to stop prostitution," Labuschagne said. - Reuters http://www.itechnology.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20030805143005713C724175&set_id=1   Anonymous Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 5:52 pm:        Toddler's Killing Exposes Ghoulish South Africa Practice By SHARON LaFRANIERE Published: September 28, 2003 ATONSIDE, South Africa, Sept. 22 — Neighbors here say they have never seen anyone emerge from the healer's shack, a tin-walled affair crowned with a cross atop a metal rod, proclaiming to have been cured. Still, the word in this treeless squatters' camp of trash-strewn yards and chicken-wire fences south of Johannesburg was that his medicine was good. That was until three weeks ago, when 3-year-old Thabang Malakoane disappeared as his mother napped in their own shack next door. When his body was found, in a garbage bag under a thin layer of dirt, the left hand and genitals had been severed. The brain, heart and other vital organs were gone. What remains is the rage of neighbors convinced that the healer and another man carried out an unspeakable crime, and the deep-rooted superstitions that the police suspect prevent witnesses from talking. People in this dense camp openly accuse the healer and a second man of an ancient and gruesome practice: murder so that human body parts can be taken for what is known as muti — the term is derived from the Zulu word for medicine. "If they come back here, the community is going to kill them," said Gladys Mbanzi, 34, who lives one dirt road away and is the mother of two boys. "If they disappear, we will burn down their shacks. The community has found them guilty." The police have taken the two men into custody, partly for their own safety. Yet after weeks of inquiry, Detective Isaac Nketle says he is stymied. "People just don't want to come forward," he said. In Africa's richest and most developed society, there may be no more bare and more sensitive divide between past and present than this. Muti murders, especially of children, remain disturbingly common; South Africa's police investigate an average of about one a month, said Gerald Labuschagne, who heads a police investigative psychology unit. Thabang's is the third suspected case in three weeks. Six men were arrested in Free State Province on Sept. 9 for trying to sell a human head, a pair of hands and feet, a heart, genitals and intestines. On Sept. 20, picnickers found the head of a 5-year-old floating by a dam near Johannesburg. Most South Africans are revolted by muti killings, and the police say they diligently pursue each case. But reaction to such cases sometimes seems muted, possibly because of the frequency of the crime, and of killings in general in a nation that records about 22,000 murders a year. Another reason, experts say, may be that muti killings illuminate an aspect of an ancient culture that modern South Africans would prefer to leave unexamined. "It tends to get swept under the carpet," said Anthony Minnaar, a senior researcher with Johannesburg's Institute of Human Rights and Criminal Justice Studies. "It points to a belief in witchcraft and spirit worship — things people don't want to acknowledge." South Africa's medical system boasts modern hospitals and pharmacies, but it coexists with bone-throwing healers whose prescriptions sometimes include the most grisly of curatives. Faith in them is more widespread than this nation's modern veneer suggests, some say. The killings follow a pattern. A client approaches a healer, who orders a third person to collect body parts. A hand in a shop's doorway supposedly attracts customers; genitals allegedly enhance virility or fertility; fat from a stomach is prescribed to ensure a good harvest. Lore says parts severed from live victims are most potent because their screams awaken supernatural powers. Parts from children are considered especially strong. The South African police say that most muti killings occur in rural areas, where tribal structures and superstition are strongest. But urban areas are not exempt. Last year, a man was arrested in Krugersdorp, just west of Johannesburg, after offering to sell a human head for about $1,300. Also last year, a journalist posing as a buyer at a traditional medicine market under an elevated highway in Johannesburg was offered a human brain, an eye and kneecaps for about $230, according to a news report. Mr. Labuschagne, the police psychologist, said even some Westernized members of the country's political class believed that human parts had medicinal properties. "I don't think these beliefs are limited to a certain class of people or even a certain level of education," he said. To some who believe that the supernatural can determine one's success and that plant- or animal-based mixtures ward off evil, human muti is "just pushing the envelope a little further," he said. The government sought in 1995 to combat muti killings by investigating witchcraft-related violence. The report urged government regulation of traditional healers and an education campaign to "liberate people mentally." But an official with the province's Security Ministry said the campaign never got going. Parliament has yet to enact legislation regulating traditional healers. ex http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/28/international/africa/28AFRI.html?ex=1065326400&en=80508d9764abd22e&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE   sdfffffffffff Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 2:03 pm:        The royal british family regularly sacrfice young children and eat them ,that's what happened to adam   Anonymous Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - 11:44 am:        Boy's eyes plucked out in withcraft ceremony February 11, 2004 - 8:09AM Four Nigerian men were charged with plucking out the eyes of a 13-year-old schoolboy for use in witchcraft, the state news agency reported today. They face charges ranging from criminal conspiracy to grievous bodily harm and permanent disfigurement for the attack on the boy, who was taken to hospital in the north-eastern state of Bauchi. Police suspect the attack was commissioned by one of the defendants to make a charm believed to make people invisible. The case will be heard by an Islamic court in Bauchi on February 18, the News Agency of Nigeria said. If found guilty, the defendants could have their own eyes removed under the Islamic sharia code, the agency added. Bauchi is one of 12 predominantly Muslim states in northern Nigeria which adopted sharia law five years ago. - Reuters http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/11/1076388395599.html   Anonymous Posted on Saturday, February 28, 2004 - 11:14 am:        Mozambique 'human organ' nun dead Friday, 27 February, 2004, 12:53 GMT A Brazilian nun has been found dead in Mozambique after some of her colleagues said they had exposed an organ trafficking network. Doraci Edinger had reportedly been strangled and beaten in her home in the northern city of Nampula. The traffickers are said to target the sex organs of children, which are sold to make magic charms. ... the nuns say they have spoken to victims who managed to escape the ring and have photos of dead children with missing organs. 'Powerful charms' The BBC's Jose Tembe in the capital, Maputo, says that many people believe that a ring does exist and accuse the government of not doing enough to investigate it. Ritual murders have been reported in many African countries, as some witchdoctors say using human organs in magic charms makes them more powerful. These are believed by some to bring financial or sexual success to those who use them. "Several countries are involved in this iniquitous game and the victims are the poor, those who have no voice or defence, or the strength to defend themselves, we are convinced that Nampula is part of an international ring," order spokeswoman Sister Juliana told Portuguese radio earlier this month. She said there have been several attempts to abduct children from the orphanage they run in Nampula. Mozambican, South African, Brazilian and Portuguese nationals were involved in the ring, she said. The organs were reportedly being smuggled into neighbouring Zimbabwe and South Africa. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3493016.stm   Anonymous (67.172.158.157) Posted on Saturday, March 20, 2004 - 12:15 pm:        Alarm at Liberian ritual killings Friday, 19 March, 2004 Women say the authorities are failing to take action Hundreds of Liberian women have taken to the streets of the capital, Monrovia, protesting against a recent wave of ritual killings there. Bodies of children have been found with some of their organs missing, taken for what are viewed as magical properties. The women, dressed in white, stormed the Justice Ministry demanding action against the killers. Politicians and the wealthy are believed to pay for the murders to increase their chances of good fortune. ... The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia says the local media has recently been dominated by reports of people chasing children at night and the discovery of bodies with some organs missing. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3551355.stm   Anonymous (67.172.158.157) Posted on Saturday, May 15, 2004 - 10:49 am:        Mozambique organ scam 'cover up' Last Updated: Thursday, 13 May, 2004, 16:43 GMT 17:43 UK A Brazilian missionary has accused local authorities in northern Mozambique of trying to cover up an alleged human organ trafficking there. Maria Elilda dos Santos, who says she was forced to leave the country, said officials intimidated family members of alleged victims to silence them. "There is a huge effort to cover up what is going on," she said in Lisbon airport, AFP news agency reported. Mozambican officials deny there is any evidence of a trade in human organs. They say their findings are based on an inquiry by the Mozambican attorney general's office of 14 case of violent death or disappearances allegedly linked to alleged organ trafficking in the northern province of Nampula. Ritual murders have been reported in many African countries, as some witchdoctors say using human organs in magic charms makes them more powerful. These are believed by some to bring financial or sexual success to those who use them. 'Intimidation' "There is no co-operation on the part of government organisations," Ms dos Santos told reporters on her arrival to Lisbon from Mozambique. "The attitude on the part of the government at the local level is to intimidate the surviving family members of the victims," she said. "This is very serious because it causes family members, who were seeking help from the authorities, to withdraw." Earlier this week, she said she had had been forced to leave Mozambique after receiving a letter from the authorities in Nampula, demanding her to leave. "I have suffered various methods of very strong pressure," Ms dos Santos - who worked in Nampula for nine years - told Portugal's Lusa news agency. "I could no longer stay in Mozambique," she added. Ms dos Santos was one of four missionary nuns earlier this year said they had exposed an organ trafficking network. In February, Brazilian nun Doraci Edinger - who also had claimed that the trade in human organs was taking place - was found dead in front of her house after reportedly being strangled and beaten. The authorities said her death was related to a financial scandal at her church, however Ms dos Santos said it was linked to the organ trafficking allegations. "Sister Doraci knew too much and this is why they silenced her," she told Lusa. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3711855.stm   Interested (205.188.117.20) Posted on Saturday, May 15, 2004 - 12:19 pm:        This is a sensitive topic but I feel it is important to bring it up. The murders listed in this thread are horrific. Yet, in our westren tradition we still have remanants of this belief. The way the story of Jesus is most often told is that God demanded that there be a torturous human sacrifice in order to placate his anger at the human race. Of course in this case the victim willingly sacrificed himself and was considered to be the son of God. But as we rightfully judge these other belief systems as being abominations we must consider that the idea of human sacrifice to God still moves in our own contemporary religious ideology.

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